Edmund Conway

I’m rather glad that the Pope managed to mention Abraham in his inaugural mass today [http://news.sky.com/story/1066538/pope-francis-to-embrace-poor-as-papacy-begins] .  Of all the Old Testament, the tale of Abraham and Isaac is probably about the most relevant to the imbroglio in Cyprus. The father takes his son

The taste left in one’s mouth by the Cyprus bailout episode just gets nastier and nastier. The latest putrid fact concerns the way the bailout was negotiated. I’m hearing from those close to the deal that it was the Cypriot politicians themselves (in other words not the Germans,

Banking is a confidence trick. The modern financial system – fractional reserve banking as it’s technically called – relies on the public putting faith in their banks. After all, the nature of the system is that at any one time there’s never enough cash in bank vaults to give everyone

Back in 1941, with the memory of the Great Depression still weighing heavy, an American wrote into the Federal Reserve with an idea. “Would it not be feasible,” the member of the public asked, “to impose a Federal tax on the deposit of funds in bank checking accounts?” The reply

The Prime Minister gives hundreds of speeches [http://www.number10.gov.uk/news-type/speeches-and-transcripts/], long and short, every year. He has appeared in countless press conferences and made numerous television appearances, and, given the time we’re living in, the dominant theme has inevitably been the economy. But until today,

Just before the 2010 election I asked a senior Tory economic adviser if the prospective new Chancellor would reconsider the Bank of England’s remit. He looked at me as if I was mad. “That’s not something we’d want to do,” he said. “Just think what that would